Digest

A Jensen Beach man has been charged in an October incident in which teenagers told police a naked man was trying to steal pumpkins from a church-sponsored pumpkin patch on Kanner Highway.

Joseph Thomas Dyer, 27, was charged Wednesday with lewd and lascivious exhibition. He was released on $10,000 bail from the Martin County Jail. He could not be reached for comment Friday.

The incident occurred Oct. 24, when several teenagers working in the pumpkin patch overnight saw a nude man and a man wearing boxer shorts about 3:10 a.m. apparently attempting to steal pumpkins. They reported seeing them run to a house nearby.

Police couldn't get the suspect to come out so they took photographs of all the vehicle license plates parked nearby. They used that information to obtain driver's license photos, which they used in a line-up for the teenagers, police said.

TROPICAL FARMS

Teen charged, three sought after brush fire

One teenager was arrested Friday and three other youths were being sought after they allegedly skipped class Wednesday and sparked a brush fire that forced the evacuation of South Fork High School.

The fire came dangerously close to the wooded campus off Pratt Whitney Road. Students were evacuated for a few hours, but no one was seriously injured.

"There were four kids who were skipping school in the woods," said Jon Pasqualone, Martin County's fire prevention chief. "They were playing with fire. The fire started and they ran. And now they are being arrested." He said two 15-year-olds, a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old were playing with a lighter and an unnamed flammable liquid.

Martin County sheriff's officials said the 17-year-old, a girl, was charged with intentionally setting land on fire and disrupting a school function. Deputies expected to arrest the three others late Friday or today.

They are not being identified because of their ages.

School administrators and the school resource officer helped fire officials solve the case, Pasqualone said. School officials began checking attendance rosters after hearing gossip from students.